This is a discussion by Dana Mathewson, Jack Kemp, Fay Voshell, and Tim Birdnow:

Dana Mathewson

I agree. Just because she gets some facts wrong isn't necessarily grounds for firing. The Pope's getting it wrong too.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/22/christian-colleges-faculty-opposes-effort-to-fire-professor-for-comparing-christianity-to-islam.html

The faculty council at an Illinois Christian college recommended Wednesday that the school end its effort to fire a professor who asserted while wearing a headscarf that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

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TIM REPLIES:

Thanks Dana; I'm torn on my view of this. On the one hand, a Christian college should not have these lefty types who teach the wrong thing. On the other there is academic freedom, and mistakes should be forgiveable. In the end I think I come down on the side of canning her, or at least putting her on probation; if a Christian school cannot promote Christianity than what is the point?

Someone really should ask her if this same God has different rules for different peoplle. Why do the Muslims get to have four wives, and as many hookups as they want? If this is indeed the same God then we are all in the wrong denomination...

JACK KEM takes a sterner view:

Dana, I'm through making excuses for idiots like this.


How does a turd like this woman get a professorship job and Tim's brother Brian have to scrounge for an untenured instructors position? And how come Fay doesn't have a tenured position in a college? It happens because Brian Birdnow and Fay Voshel don't believe in this universalist leftist one world propaganda.

This so called professor reminds me of Mrs. Cosby when she said that the Ukrainian who murdered her son learned to hate blacks ONLY when he got to the United States. It is EXACTLY the same level of understanding of Western Culture.

I'd fire this Wheaton College thinly disguised anti-American culture black hack in two seconds. I hope they keep up the attack on her and she gets a new job fitting her understanding of Western cultural values and Christianity, namely that she winds up working at a McDonalds or as a chicken plucker in a factory.

End quote.

Tim replies to Jack:

Excellent point, Jack! How do these internationalist liberals worm their way into everything? I have little doubt my brother would have taken that position in a heartbeat, but he never got the chance. Brian is a solidly orthodox Catholic. Why is a Muslim wannabee hired for this slot by a Christian school? Why can't Christians teach, oh, I don't know, uh, Christianity?

I wonder how many closet Christians teach in Muslim schools...

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Dana replies:

Jack, there may indeed be a number of reasons she should be fired -- or never have been hired in the first place. My point is that equating God and Allah is not a reason in itself. It's wrong, but as we can see, it's a misconception held by many people these days.

Sadly, being a conservative is enough to prevent one's being hired as a tenured professor at way too many institutions of "higher learning" these days, as we are all well aware. And I don't see that situation changing until the entire Woodstock Generation is dead -- and perhaps the generation it spawned. Much the worse for us.

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Fay Voshell replies:

I have been watching this case carefully, as Phil Ryken, president of Wheaton, was pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, which I am presently attending.
I believe faculty members sign a statement of faith outlining the doctrinal standards of Wheaton, which requires adherence to Christian orthodoxy. The professor who is saying Christianity and Islam worship the same God is going directly against Wheaton’s required statement of faith.
Further, there are basically two issues at stake here.
One, are Christian institutions going to be allowed to maintain their integrity as Christian entities whose standards are those of orthodox Christianity; or will they be coerced into a type of Hellenization favored by the Left, which is in religious matters represented by multi-culturalists who insist all religions worship the same God?
Second, at the heart of the Christian religion are the claims of Jesus Christ, who said he was God in the flesh and Savior of the world. Islam rejects those claims, and rejects Christ as savior. Christians worship Christ as member of the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Islam rejects the Trinity and the salvific work of Christ.
Therefore, Christianity and Islam do not worship the same God.
Now. The dilemma of Wheaton is down to this: Will it maintain Christian orthodoxy and insist the professors it hires also maintain Christian orthodoxy, or will it capitulate to the demands of such anti-Christian institutions as the ACLU, CAIR and the SPLC, all of which are champing at the bit to close down institutions like Wheaton. Will it deny the uniqueness and authority of Christ and accept what has always been a heretical view for Christians; namely, that Christ is not God?
If it does so, Wheaton, one of its most prominent graduates Bill Graham would probably say, should close its doors. That is because for the mission for which it was founded; namely, the proclamation of and the formation of disciples of Jesus Christ will have become so badly compromised, it may as well not exist at all.
Hmmm...I think I have the bones of an article...A final thought: What if this were happening at an orthodox Jewish institution--a teacher who says Islam and Judaism are the same because Jews and Muslims worship the same God? Think about that!

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Dana replies:

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danamartha2014@yahoo.com
Re: Christian college's faculty opposes effort to fire professor for comparing Christianity to Islam
From: Dana Mathewson <danamartha2014@yahoo.com>
To: Fay Voshell <fvoshell@yahoo.com>; Jack Kemp <sundialman2@aol.com>; bgoccia <bgoccia@aol.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 22, 2016 2:01 pm
Put that way, Fay, you are certainly right, and I am wrong, and therefore I retract my statement. Now the question is, did that dingbat understand the statement she signed upon joining the faculty in the first place, I wonder? Or did she assume, as a typical liberal, that it was just a piece of paper and she could repudiate it at will, since the argument apparently meant little to her?

I think most liberals care little about the "identity" of God. A Christian-oriented big band I play in, called the Good News Big Band, is often invited to play at its members' churches, and for the last three years or so we've played at the "church" attended by our (recently retired) drummer. I don't know if I included you in the discussion, but I dumped all over Jack and Tim when I told how, in the service bulletin, they made a big deal of how, in The Lord's Prayer, attendees were to feel free to say "Our Father," "Our Mother," or to use any other construct that made them feel good, despite (as they pointed out) the Bible does indicate that Jesus said "Our Father."

If you're going to take that approach, you may end up thinking of God as merely the biggest tree in the forest, the largest mountain on Earth, or anything else whose size impresses you -- sort of a Heavenly sumo wrestler. And if you know nothing about the degree (a large one indeed) to which God and Allah are different, as explained in the Bible and the Koran, I guess you end up like this "professor."

As the saying goes, "you can't fix stupid."

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Tim replies:

That was a very thoughtful and inarguable reply there Fay! I am going to post this thread at The Aviary.

If we worhsip the same God why do we have different rules? While Jews and Christians have differences of custom and ceremony we essentially follow the same rules, which are derived from the Ten Commandments. Both are commanded to treat others decently, to be kind to strangers and the poor and those in need. We are not supposed to promote our faith with the sword. Compulsion is not acceptable in either faith. Fornication is forbidden, adultery is forbidden. Slavery is forbidden (although indentured servitude was permitted under the Old Testament it was a regulated institution, one with a clear ending point after a few years.)

Islam turns all of this on it's head.

How can it be the same God who commands Christians and Jews to behave one way and the Muhammadans another?

I've been doing a lot of research on the religious roots of Islam, and have come to conclude it is really a religion based more on Mithraism and Manicheanism than on Christianity or Judaism. Mithraism was a competitor to Christianity in the early days, a relative of the Persian Zoarastrianism. Many Roman soldiers joined the cult of Mithra because it was a warrior's creed, teaching of teh absolute division between good and evil, and that there is a necessity for warriors to fight against darkness and subdue it. Sound familiar? It is the Jihad concept. The god of both Islam and Mithra requires that the Infidels be subdued by force.

Then there was Manicheanism. Mani was only a few centuries before Muhammad, and he taught a similar doctrine to Mithraism. Mani - whose father was also a "prophet" - called himself a Christian though he denied Christ as a person but rather saw him as a kind of force, an emanation of a higher power. Interestingly enough, Mani was called "the seal of the Prophets" by his followers - just like Muhammad. Also, he had his followers all face in the same direction when they prayed, which was done three times a day facing to the north. They underwent a ritual cleansing, as do the Muslims. They made a series of prostrations just as the Muslims do. Manicheanism was condemned as a heresy by the Church.

Let us not forget Arianism, which taught that Jesus was just a man.

All of these were skulking around the Arabian peninsula about the time of Muhammad, and no doubt he and his followers absorbed pieces of them into the new religion. It is interesting because the only one that was remotely related to Christianity or Judaism was Arianism, and that was roundly condemned as heretical.

In the end Muhammed stole the Law from Judaism and that was about it; he didn't even keep the name of teh Most High, cprefering to worship one of the animist local deities as the supreme being.

I don't know why someone who is supposed to be teaching at a college level wouldn't bother to educate herself on this sort of thing. Liberals are so academically lazy, never bothering to actually look at the roots of what it is they believe.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:41 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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